Marking Time
"Marking Time" is the sixty-sixth episode of DuckTales, as well as the second season premiere of and the first part of the "Time is Money" serial. Bubba and Tootsie are introduced. Synopsis The episode opens up with Scrooge McDuck attempting to purchase the westernmost of Flintheart Glomgold's island chain, Duckbill Island. Glomgold refuses to accept less than $20,000,000. Scrooge reluctantly hands over $10,000,000, and promises the other half by noon on Friday or he'll lose his down payment and his purchase according to Glomgold. Huey, Dewey and Louie are eager to know why Scrooge is wasting millions of bucks on the seemingly worthless piece of land. Scrooge explains that he came upon a cave while exploring the island full of skeletons, cave drawings and very large diamonds. But Glomgold spies on them and is upset that he was tricked out of his very own diamond mine. He calls the Beagle Boys and orders them to plant dynamite around the cave while Scrooge and the nephews sleep. When Scrooge awakens, Flintheart and the Beagles show up to tell them that what now remains outside the cave is now the westernmost island that Scrooge bought, and Flintheart now owns Duckbill Island's diamond-infested cave. Scrooge turns to Gyro Gearloose for help. Fortunately, Gyro has discovered a new element called bombastium, which looks like a glow-in-the-dark popsicle, and has the ability travel through time. In light of his discovery, Gyro built a bombastium-powered helicopter called the Millennium Shortcut, with controls designed to be flown by Launchpad McQuack. Taking along a laser disguised a pen, Scrooge, Launchpad, and the boys attempt to head back in time to before the explosion. Unfortunately, a near run-in with a plane causes Launchpad to spin the helicopter's timeclock continuously, inevitably sending the group farther back in time than anticipated. The group arrive on Duckbill Island as it was one million years ago. Here they run into a caveduck named Bubba, whom they accidentally save from becoming lunch for a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Scrooge is upset with ending up in prehistoric times, and he doesn't take kindly to Bubba, who is devoted to "Skooge" (as he calls him) for saving his life. Bubba then takes Scrooge to his cave, which coincidentally turns out to be the future diamond mine. Scrooge gets the idea to leave his marker all over the cave to prove that he legally owns the diamond mine and to wrestle it away from the clutches of Glomgold. Scrooge attempts to use his laser pen to mark a nearby rock which turns out to be Bubba's pet Triceratops and accidentally burns the dinosaur, who steps on Launchpad's foot. Bubba later names her Tootsie, after Launchpad's foot. The group stumble upon a priceless skeleton of a Rogetthesaurus. As Launchpad loads the skeleton into the time machine, Scrooge proceeds to leave his "money" signature throughout the cave, while the nephews introduce Bubba to music. The time machine's freezer busts and the bombastium starts to melt. Bubba and the nephews wander off and just as Scrooge and Launchpad find the boys, they return to find the Millennium Shortcut missing. Bubba, now an honorary Junior Woodchuck thanks to Huey, Dewey, and Louie, helps the group track the machine down. They find the machine in the hands of the magenta T-Rex who earlier tried to eat Bubba. In a complicated process, the heroes distract "Jerkzilla" as Scrooge calls him, away from the plane, using taunts and banana peels. Huey, Dewey, and Louie want to take Bubba and Tootsie with them, but Scrooge would not have it, as he views Bubba as more of a pest. But as the Millennium Shortcut takes off, the T-Rex returns, angrier than ever. He bites at the machine's landing gear, preventing them from leaving. The heroes believe the weight of the Rogetthesaurus bones are preventing them from taking off, and after some convincing from the nephews, Scrooge reluctantly jettisons them, hitting the T-Rex. During this, Bubba attempts to help the time travelers by clubbing the T-Rex on the head as the bones are being dumped, but he unintentionally stows away on the plane with Tootsie. Scrooge balks and blames the prehistoric passengers for the stalled take-off and the loss of his $1,000,000 skeleton. But before Scrooge can take them back, Launchpad pilots them through time once more. Cast *Chuck McCann as Burger Beagle and Bouncer Beagle *Terry McGovern as Launchpad McQuack and Screamin' Sky McFly *Hal Smith as Gyro Gearloose and Flintheart Glomgold *Russi Taylor as Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck *Frank Welker as Big Time Beagle, Tootsie and Bubba Duck *Alan Young as Scrooge McDuck Video releases DVD * "DuckTales: Volume 3" (Reg. 1) * "DuckTales: 3rd Collection" (Reg. 2) Trivia *Bombastium originated in the Carl Barks comic story "A Cold Bargain". *Glomgold shouts to Bubba, "I'll get you, laddie, and your little dinosaur too!" This is a reference to The Wizard of Oz, where a similar quote was said by the Wicked Witch of the West. Category:Season 2 episodes (1987)